Estes Park writer and artist Faith Evans has spent her entire career teaching people making mistakes is a good thing. For corporate, school and camp groups she leads exercises in experiential learning disguised as games that promote team-building, cooperation, and communication through her business Playfully, Inc.

"You can learn more about people from an hour's worth of play than a lifetime of conversations," she maintains.

She is the author of five published books, including the comprehensive text "The More the Merrier," which is a practical guide to leading group games. Evans is also an artist, making whimsical ceramic sculptures and the work she is currently doing: creating "nested poetry" books, the most recent one assembled primarily of existing material.

It's a piece that is difficult to describe in words. She found a coffee-table book full of stark, black and white photos. She paired up some of her "nested" poems (described below) with specific images in the book and tore the rest of the pages out of the book. Then for each page, she added to the existing image with colorful photographs, decorative features such as ribbons, feathers and glass jewels; and, created 3D elements to make portions of the pages have pop-up features or interactive activities.

The result is a book that is an expression capable of communicating a variety of subjects and emotions. Curiously, each reader is struck in a different way by the combination of words and visual art. It's a unique experience - as unique as each individual person can be.

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Evans grew up in Kansas, but her heart belonged in Colorado where her family vacationed every year. She first laid her eyes upon Estes Park when she began working for Colorado Cheley Camps, Estes Park, in 1963 as a camp counselor. She continued to work there for the next 52 years, either fulltime or part-time, moving to Colorado permanently 28 years ago and to Estes Park 10 years ago.

She was born into a family that loved words and making things by hand, dating all the way to her great-grandmother. Evans' daughter and granddaughter continue that tradition today.

Faith Evans with her nested poetry book, which includes instructions for how to write your own nested poetry. (Barb Boyer Buck / For the Trail-Gazette)

"Creativity is everywhere, in everything," she said. "It's part of work and play."

Evans has been an educator all of her adult life. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Kansas in Manhattan, Kansas, and her master's in gifted education from Texas Women's University in Denton, Texas.

"That's where I learned we all have gifts and my privilege is to help others find theirs," she said.

She has incorporated this philosophy and her creativity while developing some of the group games she leads through her private practice, which are described in the books she authored and co-authored. And they are translated beautifully into her "nested" poetry which was inspired by a book of spiritual meditations she read, Divinity in Disguise," by Kevin Anderson.

A nested poem's first line is a thought. Just a couple of words, but enough to complete the simplest thought. The next line adds a word or two, making sure the original phrase is nested into the sentence. Each lines builds on the original nested words, but changes the meaning slightly, to offer a new perspective or idea. Then, the meaning is changed slightly again, with an additional word or two or with punctuation, or emphasis on a different word. The concluding line offers the final thought — "the last line takes the mind on a trip, and the train of thought travels to a new, and sometimes unexpected, track," Evans said.

Evans starts with the poetry and then creates her visual interpretations. Her first nested poetry book was a result of a class she took from local artist Deedee Hampton, where Evans learned how to make alternative books. "The assignment: Find an old book and artistically, change it, make collages and add ephemera, cut, paste, write in it, and see what happens. Modify, convert and transform." From her nested poem library, Evans chose 30 poems and created her book.

The project consumed her. It seemed to be the perfect combination of all her passions — creativity, games, play and experiential learning. It also required a fair amount of courage.

"What it takes is unattachment and no fear of releasing things that don't work," she said.

Nested poetry books could be used as a personal diary or an exploration of life lessons and challenges.

"The writer releases attachment and control, and deleting a poem can be nearly as satisfying as finishing one," Evans explained. "Changing words and themes are welcomed as if they were magic and heading in a new direction is exciting rather than to be avoided. The actual experience of writing (and rewriting) a nested poem often has direct applications to real life such as 'letting go,' 'going with the flow,' 'trusting the process,' and 'trying something new.' Writing nested poems is the ideal example of the experiential axiom: 'I hear it, I forget. I see it, I remember. I do and I understand.'"

To contact Evans to teach a class or to purchase her books, she can be reached at faithevans@aol.com.

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